Telephone-mouthpiece.



PATENTED NOV. 19, 1907.

A.BEB0UT. l

TELEPHONE MOUTHPIECE.v

APPLIOATIGN FILED JAN. 28, 1907.

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'UNITED ANNA BEBOUT, OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI.l

TELEPHONE-MOUTHPIECE Specication of Letters Patent.

l Patented Nov. 19, 19o?.

Application filed January 28` 1907. Serial No. 354.552.

T o all 'whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ANNA BEBOUT, a citizen of the United States, residing at St. Louis, in the county of St. Louis City, State of Missouri, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Telephone-Mouthpieces, of which the following is a specification.

This` invention relates to a telephone mouth piece.

Telephone mouth pieces heretofore have been f either permanent, that is rigidly secured to the telephone, or in the form of an attachment.` In both of these forms, the mouth piece is not adapted vfor individual use. In other words, the mouth piece is employed by every user of the telephone. These mouth pieces, owing to their indiscriminate use haveibeen found to be the agents by Whichmany' contagious diseases are spread, and, as a consequence, many inventions have been devised to destroy the germs contained in said mouth pieces. These devices have not come into universal use and as a consequence, one who would prefer to use a germ proof mouthpiece is compelled to use those without these devices and this particularly when 4using public telephones.

It is an object of my invention to provide an individual mouth piece that is capable of use With'any telephone or in other words, to provide a mouth piece that may be carried in ones pocket and used when desired. In this manner, the mouth piece acts to prevent one catching a disease from a telephone or transmitting a disease to others through the telephone.

Withthese and other objects in view, the invention consists of the parts and combina,- tion of parts hereinafter described, more particularly pointed out in the appended claims, and shown lin the accompanying drawings.

In `the drawings, Figure 1 is a side view of my invention in condition for use. Fig. 2 is a longitudinal section of the expanded mouth piece. Fig. 3 is a sectional view of the collapsed mouth piece. Fig. 4 is a sectional view showing the reduced end removed for long distance messages.

The mouth piece herein shown is formed of a' plurality of sections which are adapted to fit one within another so that the device may be collapsed into small compass as shown in Fig. 8, and, if desired, fitted in a small box to be carried-in a pocket of the user. These sections are connected together by an inwardly and upwardly turned flange l on that end of a section which is to be connected to a smaller section, and an outwardly and upwardly turned vflange 2 on that end which is to engage a larger section.

One section 3 to be termed a mouth section is formed at its edge to it ones face around the mouth, one portion of the edge being cut away as at 4 and serving to fit below the lower lip and permit the free movement of said lip. The section 5 is reduced at 6. This reduced portion serves to soften the sound of the voice and makes the telephone transmit much clearer sounds. Vith long distance messages, however, it is desirable to remove this reduced section as a louder voice is more desirable for messages of this type.

The mouth piece may be employed without any germ-proof medium, as the users mouth will be located some distance from the telephone, and'any germs in the mouth piece would only be those received from the user. As an extra precaution, however, it is preferable to provide a germ-proof medium in the tube and for this reason the reduced end 6 of the section 5 is provided with screw-threads upon which is adapted to be screwed a sleeve 7. This sleeve is of such a length that it projects beyond the end of the reduced portion when fitted on the latter. This sleeve acts as a securing means for an aseptic medium S which is in the form of a piece of cloth either sterilized or impregnated with a germicide and stretched over the end of the re- .I

It is contemplated that all-.constant users of telephones will carry one of these mouth pieces and that it will be considered a personal article similar to toilet articles.

Wvhile I do not limit my invention to the use of a closure, I prefer to use means whereby the open ends of the device will be effectively closed while in collapsed position for the purpose of preventing accumulation of dust or foreign substances within the instrument. For this purpose I provide two caps or covers 9 and 10 hinged respectively to the outermostmember as shown at ll and 12 and adapted to close upon and embrace the ends of said outermost member as shown in Fig. 3. Owing to the irregular edge of the sin-ies receiving end of the outer section, the cap for closing this end is provided with a correspondingly designed iiange; that is to say, the flange is deeper on that side of the device Where the concavity is provided to receive the lower lip.

Having thus described the invention, what I is claimed is 1. A collapsible individual mouth piece for telephones comprising a plurality of sections, the mouth section being such a length that the other sections may be housed Within the same, connections between the sections permitting such'housing, and closures hinged at ing a screw threaded reduced portion, a screw threaded sleeve on the reduced portion, projecting beyond the'same, and an aseptic cloth held to the reduced portion by the sleeve.

3. In combination With a collapsible pocket mouth piece for telephones, having a concave receiving end, a cap or closure secured to the outer section of the instrument, adapted to fit over said receiving end and having a flange constructed to overlap the -concave portion and eectively close the same said instrument also having a suitable closure for its outer end.

The foregoing specification signed at Washington, D. C. this 9th day of January, I1907.

' ANNA BEBOUT.

In presence of HERVEY S. KNIGHT, EDWIN S. CLARKsoN. 

